


the art of happiness

by yunmin



Series: Distant Horizons [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Families of Choice, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Military Backstory, Politics, Rogue Squadron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-22 00:23:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9573575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yunmin/pseuds/yunmin
Summary: “Miss Rey,” her social worker says from behind their desk, gesturing at this strange man. “I’d like to introduce you to Wedge Antilles. He’s your mother’s brother. Your maternal uncle.”The man – her uncle, Wedge, the only relation she has left in this world – smiles at her. He leans over, and offers her a hand to shake. “Hello Rey,” he says, eyes wide like he can’t believe she’s real. “I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”Rey had given up any hope of finding a family, until Wedge Antilles – her mother’s estranged brother – appears in her life.





	

**Author's Note:**

> There were a couple of throw-away lines in [the art of governance](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7191326) which referred to Rey and her two dads who lived in the middle of nowhere, Scotland. This fic would be an elaboration on them.
> 
> This fic would also be ‘Denis Lawson is Scottish and has completely ate my brain’ so, please, if you’d never heard him not be dubbed over / doing an American accent, please look it up. You will not regret it. Also, if you want an entire movie of Wedge Antilles in the remoteness of Scotland, I feel duty bound to tell you it exists: it’s called Local Hero and it is the greatest thing. Look at him:  
>   
> 

**i)**

Rey only has one clear memory of her parents.

It’s of the last night she saw them. She remembers her mother bending down to kiss Rey’s cheek, blond hair falling in her eyes. Her father, large and imposing but so warm, telling her not worry: they’d be back soon. She’d cried until he scooped her up into his arms, showering her with devotion before handing her back to her babysitter that evening. It’s a good memory. The affection they had for her was clear. She remembers feeling loved.

The next morning, she woke up to be informed that there was a terrible accident, and her parents were dead.

**ii)**

At eight years old, she has run through four different foster families and is losing hope that someone would ever love her.

Then, one day, one of the care workers at the home she’s in brings her to her social worker’s office. “There’s someone we want you to meet,” they’d said, even as Rey was more interested in fiddling with the broken television remote. “It’s important, Rey.”

She dressed in her best clothes, and knew what this was: another placement, of some sort or other. But she goes along with it. There’s no harm in meeting the family who think they can provide her with what she needs.

Rey expects a nice, elderly couple. They’re the sort her file gets passed to, these days. Instead, there is a lone man. Sitting nervously on a chair, a hand clenched in his trousers. He’s younger than Rey was expecting – his hair is dark, and although his long face has lines on it, Rey thinks they’re ones of laughter rather than that of age.

“Miss Rey,” her social worker says from behind their desk, gesturing at this strange man. “I’d like to introduce you to Wedge Antilles. He’s your mother’s brother. Your maternal uncle.”

The man – her uncle, Wedge, the only relation she has left in this world – smiles at her. He leans over, and offers her a hand to shake. “Hello Rey,” he says, eyes wide like he can’t believe she’s real. “I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

Rey considers taking his hand, but… this man is her family, and it’s clear that he wants her. Rey’s been without that for four years. So she throws her arms around his neck. He laughs, the sound soft and good-natured, and Rey decides she never wants to let go.

**iii)**

It takes a while for things to be sorted, but it’s decided that Wedge is going to take Rey back to where he lives.

“Shetland,” Wedge says, in that soft way of his, when she asks where they’re going. “It’s beautiful, in the islands. Sea as far as the eyes can see, when the fog clears. And the coast, it’s breathtaking. You’re going to love it.”

Rey’s a little in love already just from the way Wedge speaks about it. She’s eager to move, to start her new life, but Wedge and her social worker are insistent that she sees out the end of the school term. Then all of her stuff is packed into a large case, and they take the train northwards.

When they cross the border, Wedge sighs. “Ahh, Scotland. I’ve missed you.” Rey looks out the window: it looks much the same to her as it did five minutes ago, back in England. “Eh.” Wedge shrugs, catching her bemusement. “Maybe one day you’ll understand, Rey.”

It takes them a couple of hours, winding through the dramatic Scottish scenery, until they reach Aberdeen. They’re still not done yet. There’s an overnight ferry that will take them onto Shetland. Rey’s never been on a boat before. That in itself is exciting enough. Wedge greets the captain like he knows him – which he might. Rey can’t tell, everyone they’ve met since they got off the train has been so friendly and they all talk like Wedge, so it’s possible. She drifts off to the rocking of the boat against the waves, and Wedge humming an old sea shanty.

When she wakes the next morning, just as the dawn light is breaking, Wedge takes her up to the deck. She looks out on the place that’s about to be her home, a number of islands just peaking over the horizon at them. “Oh,” she says, wonderstruck.

“Home sweet home,” Wedge says, with an arm around her shoulders.

**iv)**

Wedge lives by the sea, house a little way out from the nearest village.

He works as a… well, Rey’s not exactly sure. At the back of the house is an open studio, with wide windows that overlook the sea, and she’ll find him sat there, designing buildings. But she’s not sure that’s his job. On other days, he seems to do a bit of everything. Coast guard. Handyman. He’s always ready with a smile and an open hand whenever someone comes to ask for his help with something.

School is a couple of villages over, and has thirty pupils, total. Wedge drives her over each day in his truck, waving her off at the gate before progressing to do whatever needs doing that day. At the end of the day, he’ll be there waiting for her. They go home, and it’s just them.

Despite the fact that Wedge is well liked in the community, he doesn’t seem to be especially close to anyone. He speaks fondly of former friends, old squadron mates from his days in the airforce. There are a couple of pictures scattered throughout the house – one with Wedge and his plane, another of him smiling standing beside a sandy-haired man. But Rey’s favourite is the one with his squad, three other men, Wedge stood in the middle. The dark-haired man beside him is clutching an overly large stuffed bear. “That was our squadron mascot,” Wedge explains, when she asks. “Never did find out why Wes called the damn thing Kettch.”

Rey looks up at him, with a furrowed face, and Wedge suddenly balks. “You didn’t hear me just say that,” he says.

“Sure.” She cocks her head, attempting to look disapproving, but breaks out into giggles ten seconds in. Wedge grabs for her, ruffling her hair as he pulls her close, his laugh as bright as hers. Maybe he hasn’t got this parenting thing completely down, but he’s trying.

**v)**

After two years, Rey knows nearly everyone within forty miles of their house, so she’s surprised when a stranger turns up at their door.

He’s got dirty blond hair and a bedraggled beard, and is wearing a brightly coloured jumper that looks out of place on his otherwise somber form. He looks a little familiar, but Rey knows that she doesn’t know him. And he doesn’t know her either, because he squints at her in confusion before asking: “Sorry. Is Wedge Antilles here?”

“He’s out,” Rey explains. She’s slightly thrown by his appearance – they don’t get many guests at the house. When Wedge meets clients, he’ll go over to the mainland; same if he’s seeing friends. He often brings Rey, wanting to give her a taste of life elsewhere. This man could be a tourist, she guesses, looking for some help, but there’s something about the way he stands, expectant in the doorway, that makes Rey rule that out. “There was an emergency down at St Ninlan’s. He’ll be back later.”

“Is it okay if I wait for him?” the man asks. “My name’s Luke. I’m an old friend of Wedge’s.” He sticks out a hand for her to shake.

“Hello Luke,” Rey says, taking his hand. “I’m Rey.”

His eyes widen, and his grip on her hand slackens. “Are you— you’re his niece, right? He found you?”

“Yes,” Rey answers. Wedge has told her the story before. It was only when he left the airforce that he decided to try to track down his long-lost sister, who’d run away from home when Wedge was only a small child. It had taken him a while to discover that she was dead, had been married under an assumed name, and then to find her daughter lost in the system. “Do you want to come in?”

Luke nods, and steps inside. He takes one look at the living room and blanches, and sits at the kitchen table. Rey offers him a cup of tea and some food, but he doesn’t seem interested. Instead, he is nervous, fidgeting in his chair and closely inspecting the wood grain of the kitchen table. Rey doesn’t know what to make of it all.

All she can do is wait for Wedge to come home. She stares out the window, waiting for him, and finally sees his truck pulling up. “He’s here!” she yells, for Luke’s benefit.

When she steps out, she discovers that Luke has beat her to it. He’s already half-way up the path, but that seems to be as far as he’s gotten. He’s frozen, staring at Wedge. Wedge looks just as shocked, Rey notes. “Luke?” Wedge’s eyes are wide and he hesitates for a moment, before marching through the front gate to envelop Luke in a fierce hug. Luke melts easily into the embrace, looking at ease for the first time since Rey met him and suddenly she realises where she recognises him from.

He used to fly with Wedge.

“Thank god you’re okay,” Wedge mutters, hands clutched in the back of Luke’s ridiculous jumper, voice choked with emotion. “For a while… I thought we might have lost you, Luke.”

“I promised you I’d come back.” Luke’s head is resting on Wedge’s shoulder, and his words are muffled, but they’re clear enough. “I promised, Wedge. I’m only sorry it took this long.”

**vi)**

Three days later, when Wedge picks Rey up from school, he tells her that they’ve got to make a diversion to the airport to pick someone up. Rey just shrugs, and takes the passenger seat of Wedge’s truck. She’s used to Wedge changing their plans last minute – it happens, sometimes.

And it’s nice to be just the two of them again. Since Luke’s arrival, things have been off-kilter. Wedge’s attentions have largely been focused on Luke, who’s haunted the house like a shadow, unsure of his place there. Wedge had told Rey a little bit, about how he and Luke used to fly together in the RAF, before Luke was promoted and sent on all sorts of missions that are classified far above Wedge’s paygrade. Until about five years ago, when he’d upped and left and vanished into the world. “He sent postcards.” Wedge had unbound a small stack of them, passing one to Rey. “They weren’t much, and I never really knew what was going on with him. And then they stopped—” His voice had shook, and he didn’t have any more words. Rey had just cuddled in close, seeing the look of fear on his face.

Wedge looks at Luke like he’s a miracle; like he can’t believe that the man is there and in front of him and alive.

Luke looks back the same way.

Rey doesn’t mention any of this to Wedge, just natters nonsense about her day as they follow the long winding road to the airport. Wedge nods along, listening intently, until they reach their destination. It’s started to rain, and Wedge grabs an umbrella from the back shelf.

Rey, carefree, just hops down from the truck and dashes across to the terminal building. She shakes herself off when she reaches the cover, laughing at Wedge as he dashes across too. “Come on,” Wedge says as he opens the door to let them in. He’s got a smile on his face, endlessly amused by Rey’s antics.

The flight has already landed, and Rey dimly recognises most of the people now making their way out. Wedge heads for a small woman, who has her dark hair plaited about her head like a crown. “Leia. It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too, Wedge.” She grabs her case, and starts moving towards the exit. “I came as soon as I could get away. Thank you for letting me know you found him.”

“He came to me,” Wedge says, beckoning for Rey. “Leia, this is Rey. Rey, this is Leia Organa – she’s Luke’s sister.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Rey.”

“Likewise.”

Rey looks at Leia, searching for any trace of Luke’s features in hers. They don’t look much alike. Leia’s hair and eyes are much darker than Luke’s, her cheeks rounder, but Rey knows that doesn’t mean anything. Families come in all shapes and sizes.

When they reach the terminal doors, Leia sighs at the sight of all the rain. Wedge steps out, putting the umbrella up as he does so in one practised motion. He holds his arm out, and Leia takes it. “Come on,” she says. “I want to know what my errant brother has to say for himself.”

**vii)**

Leia Organa stays with them for two weeks, and in that time Rey learns that she is brutal and fierce but that she also has a lot of love for her brother, no matter how much he frustrates her.

Rey spends most of her time avoiding all the new adults in her house. She and Wedge try to get on with their usual routine, though Wedge seems to be spending more time at home than usual, playing mediator between Luke and Leia. There’s a lot for all three of them to get out, things that Rey can barely begin to understand. She catches Wedge and Luke sitting close, huddled on the sofa together, while Leia rolls her eyes and goes to make yet another important phonecall.

(Rey is still not entirely sure _who_ Leia is, beyond being Luke’s sister, but she appears important.)

Rey isn’t sure what the resolution they’re searching for is, or even if it’s one that they’ll be able to find. But on Saturday morning, unable to even tolerate the thought of being in the house as it all goes on, she grabs her coat and proclaims she’s going for a walk.

There’s a path along the shore that she knows well, and it takes her an hour to walk along it, until she reaches a cottage owned by a local fisherman. His wife, who’s home, invites Rey in for lunch, and lets her stay for a little while, before Rey decides that she’d better head back.

Ten minutes out from her house, she finds Luke sitting on the grassy bank of the beach. He’s sitting quietly, legs crossed, the soles of his feet pointed upwards. Rey strips off her shoes and socks, before padding along next to him. Rey drops down beside him, and tugs at her feet in an attempt to replicate his position. She has little success.

“I’m sorry,” Luke says, after five minutes in which Rey has sat beside him, constantly fidgeting.

“Not your fault I can’t sit like you,” Rey mutters. She gives her foot one last tug, abandoning it as implausible. “Can you teach me?”

Luke’s eyes widen in surprise – perhaps what he said had nothing to do with her struggle to sit as he was. “Sure.” He unfolds his legs, them demonstrates how to place one’s feet on top of one’s knees, creating the strange crossed-leg position.

“This isn’t very comfortable,” Rey remarks, upon finally succeeding in doing it.

“You get used to it.” Luke takes it up again, watching as Rey struggles to hold it for more than sixty seconds. Her legs collapse under her, and she huffs in frustration. “I am sorry. Not about the sitting. About arriving. I’ve disrupted what you and Wedge had, and I shouldn’t have.”

“Why?” Rey cocks her head, genuinely curious.

“I didn’t know he’d found you. You’ve got a whole life here, the two of you, a family of your own. I’m not a part of that. I just… Wedge has always been there, when I needed him, and I guess I thought he’d be able to drop everything for me again. Only he’s got you. So I’m sorry.”

“He likes having you here,” Rey says. “And if he’s happy – and you do make him happy – then I’m happy.” Luke is struck dumb by Rey’s comments. “I’m not so sure about Leia, though. She’s very loud.”

Luke laughs. He’s bowled over by it, face wide with delight. “Yes, she always was good at that. She and Han – her husband – used to go at it like cats and dogs. I’d never heard anyone argue like that before. Course, us pilots found it highly amusing. Someone was always betting on what their next bust up would be.”

“Was Dad involved?”

Luke stops, momentarily considering whether he should be telling Rey any of this. “Yeah,” he says. “He made a lot of money off Wes and Hobbie, over the years.”

“Do you have any more stories?” Rey leans forward. “Of back then? He doesn’t speak about it a lot, and I’ve asked Uncle Wes, but Wedge always grabs the phone before Wes can get started.”

“No wonder – if anyone has mortifying stories, it would be Wes.” Luke smiles conspiratorially. “Okay, so one time—” Luke spins her a story about Echo Base, and the harshest winter they’d ever known, and Rey listens, captivated in delight. They stay out until the sun is low in the sky. Then, Luke picks Rey up and helps her get her shoes back on, fastening the buckles for her. They walk back to the house hand in hand, and Wedge meets them at the gate.

There’s just a hint of worry in his face, but it evaporates upon seeing them. “Dinner’s almost up,” he says. “And Leia says she’s leaving tomorrow morning. Just thought I’d give you a heads up. Don’t suppose you know what your plans are?”

Luke shrugs, eternally noncommittal. “I don’t really have any.”

“You could stay with us,” Rey suggests.

Luke looks completely taken aback. Wedge looks a little baffled at her sudden invitation. “You could,” Wedge says, settling a hand on Rey’s shoulder. “If it’s good with Rey, it’s good with me. You’re welcome here, Luke, always.” His words almost don’t betray how much he wants Luke to stay, until the last word, where suddenly the yearning is so overpowering that Rey can feel it clench in her chest.

“Please?” Rey says, because she thinks that Wedge is too proud to beg.

Luke’s entire face softens, his eyes brightening with a spark of light. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll stay.” He smiles. “I’d like that.”

**viii)**

Luke stays.

He carves out a space for himself in the house, in their lives. That doesn’t mean he’s always there; he still travels a lot, leaving sometimes for months on end. But now he calls, and writes, and he always comes home to Shetland in the end, back to Wedge, back to Rey. He brings back all sorts of trinkets, gifts from foreign lands. Rey takes them all with delight, wondering at a world she could see beyond Shetland, and delighting in the stories that Luke tells.

Wedge just always seems glad to have Luke back with them, and when Luke returns, Wedge is never far from his side. Always there with a hand on Luke’s back, a touch, a look. And Luke stays similarly close, pulling a chair up beside Wedge’s desk and watching while he works, sketching the elegant lines of the facade of some building that he’s designing now.

Slowly, Rey starts to understand why it is that Wedge doesn’t have a girlfriend, or a wife, why there is no surrogate mother figure in her life: he’s in love with Luke. Has been for a long time, she suspects, possibly for as long as they’ve known each other. Rey can’t tell if Luke returns his feelings, or if there’s actually something between them. And Wedge says anything, and Rey is hesitant to bring it up. It’s his business. When he’s ready to tell her, he will.

She doesn’t want to do anything to disrupt the peace they’ve built for themselves.

But, as she gets older, it happens anyway. Wedge starts getting called away more for work, spending more time on the mainland than ever before. It’s a good thing, it means he’s in demand, that he can finally do the work he’s always wanted to do, but… Shetland stops working. It stops being a paradise. And so, the year she turns fourteen, Wedge floats the idea of moving. Of going to the mainland, and starting a life there.

“You’d be able to go to a bigger school,” he tells Rey. “Probably wouldn’t have to travel so far to do it, either. You could do so much more. I know you love it here, and I do too, but there would be more opportunities if we went somewhere like Glasgow.”

Rey isn’t sure, but she’s slowly won round. Recognises that Wedge has a point. Her commute to the local junior high school is already wearing on her. In two years time, she’ll have to go all the way to Lerwick to continue her education. Shetland’s wonderful, but it’s not what they need right now. So she agrees. Glasgow. The city in which Wedge grew up. It’ll be a change, but for the better. And she’ll still have Wedge, and Luke.

Then Luke announces that he’s going off on another trip, and that he won’t be moving to Glasgow with them.

Rey knows she shouldn’t be surprised. It’s been a while since he last left. She’d started to think – and she thinks Wedge did too – that he was going to say, that he’d settled down with them, and had shaken off the wanderlust that drove him around the world. But clearly, that’s not true. He’s going to leave them, and Rey is more shaken by that than she ever expected to be.

Wedge is trying to act like it’s nothing, but Rey knows that it weighs on him, that in tearing them from Shetland he’s played some part in driving Luke away.

As moving-day dawns, the atmosphere grows ever more melancholic. Stuff is packed into boxes, then loaded up to be taken away and shipped to their new flat. Luke’s not leaving until a couple of days after them, which makes things worse. They’ve got to be the ones to walk away from him.

“You’ll call, won’t you?” Rey asks, sitting with Luke as she watches Wedge load the last of the things on the back of the truck.

He nods. “When I can.”

“That better be a lot.” Rey wraps her arms around Luke’s frame, and lays her head on his shoulder. “I’m really going to miss you. I wish you weren’t going. I wish you were staying with us.”

“Sometimes these things just don’t work out, Rey. I’m sorry.” Luke’s arm is wrapped around her waist, and he’s holding her tight. “I’m going to miss you too.”

“Did you and Wedge have a fight?” she asks, very quietly. “Is that why you aren’t coming?”

Luke looks horrified, and confused. “No, no, nothing like that. Why on earth would you think that?”

“Because I don’t understand why both of you are making yourselves so miserable! He loves you, and I was sorta hoping that you loved him back.” The words spill from Rey’s mouth before she can think them through, her frustration finally making its way out.

Luke goes stock still. “Oh, Rey.” He runs a hand through her hair. “Oh, darling.”

“Do you?” she asks. “I’ve been trying to work it out and I just… I don’t understand anything anymore.”

She feels a sob emerge from her throat, and tears dripping down her face. She’s crying into Luke’s shoulder, weeping for – she doesn’t ever know what, a future she could have had? The happiness of the people she loves?

“Rey?” Wedge comes to sit the other side of her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “What happened?”

She lifts her head. She’s such an idiot, crying over this. It’s not even her business, it never was, but she can’t bear to see them making themselves unhappy. And she can’t find the words to say any of this. Luke steps in. “She thinks we’ve been fighting. And no kid likes watching their parents fight.”

Wedge’s mouth falls open, surprised – and perhaps confused – by Luke’s words. Rey shakes herself out of their hold, standing up, then spinning around so she’s facing both of them. “I think both of you are idiots!” she yells, with her fists clenched. “If this is about me, if you’re scared to tell me what’s going on between you – I don’t care! I love you both. That’s not changing.” She stomps off, wanting to give them a little bit of space to talk.

She glances back, and sees that Wedge has moved to go after her, but Luke’s grabbed his wrist, stopping him. And then, with a hand on Wedge’s jaw, Luke pulls him in for a soft, easy kiss. “I love you,” he says, resting his forehead against Wedge’s. “You know that, right? I need to go on this trip. Should have gone on it a while ago, I just… got caught up here. I love you, and I love her.”

“I know,” Wedge says, brushing his thumb over Luke’s cheek. “I love you too. And I guess I should have told her that part. I just…”

“She’ll understand, Wedge.” Luke leans in to kiss Wedge again. “Now, go. You’re going to miss the ferry. I’ll call. And I’ll come back to you, I promise.”

Wedge looks sad, as he stands up, and walks away from Luke.

“I’m sorry,” Rey says, as she sits in the truck. “I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“No, no.” Wedge still isn’t quite right, but he starts the ignition. Sparing one last glance out the window back at Luke, and then drives off. “You were right. We should have told you.”

**ix)**

Rey is taken aback by just how large Glasgow is. She’d gotten so used to Shetland, and the tight-knit intimate community it provided; now she is surrounded by a never ending stream of hustle and bustle of thousands of people.

The first couple of days aren’t so bad. They’re so busy unpacking all their stuff, sorting furniture, decorating their new home. When they’ve finished that… things are harder. Luke’s absence is noticeable in a way it’s never been before.

“Wedge.” Rey broaches the subject one afternoon, as she looks through a pile of leaflets Wedge has brought home about possible summer plans. “You and Luke. Can I ask you about that?”

Wedge stops what he’s doing, and comes to sit beside her. He gives her a small smile. “Of course. I should have brought it up a long time ago, really.” He ducks his head. “I guess we were just so used to hiding it. It never occurred to me that I could tell you, that it no longer needed to be a secret.”

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Rey says. “You being gay.”

“Bisexual,” Wedge corrects. “That’s the right word. And yes, you might not, and a lot of people don’t these days, but when we were younger, it was more of an issue. In the RAF – well such things certainly went on a lot, but officially they were frowned upon. So we got used to keeping it under wraps, and being discrete. Then he left, and I had no idea if he still felt that way about me – and I had bigger concerns then, discovering that my sister was dead and had left a child behind.”

“Me.”

“Yeah. And I wasn’t exactly rushing to disclose to social services that I was in love with a man. It would have just made everything more complicated.” Wedge puts an arm around Rey’s shoulders. “You were my priority then. You still are. And when he came wandering back to me, it took us a while to navigate what we meant to each other. I didn’t press for labels, or a commitment. I just wanted whatever I could get.”

“So I mucked it up?”

Wedge looks aghast. “No. No. Never, Rey.” He pulls her close, giving her a hug, tangling a hand in her hair. “Maybe things would have been different if you hadn’t been there, yes. They could have been worse. I don’t regret adopting you. Not for a second. Let me be quite clear about that.”

Her hands curl in the back of his jumper. “Love you, Dad,” she mutters into his shoulder. They stay there for a while, before Rey lets go and pulls herself away. “So, how’d you get together?”

Wedge pulls a face. “Are you sure you want to hear about all that? Isn’t it embarrassing?”

“Eh.” Rey shrugs her shoulders. It might well be. “I’m curious.”

Wedge shakes his head, chuckling softly to himself. “Okay. Remember, you asked for it.”

**x)**

Summer ends up being a whirlwind of activity. A summer camp, a trip to Edinburgh – they drop in on Han and Leia whilst they’re there, who welcome them with open arms. It’s nice. Luke even phones a couple of times, when he finds some civilisation, and it’s clear enough that he misses them just as much as they miss him.

When September rolls around, Rey starts at one of the big secondary schools in central Glasgow. It’s a rough start; her education in Shetland has left her advanced in what she was passionate about, and behind in other subjects. But she manages. Wedge works hard with her to try and catch her up, whilst being super busy with his own work. And they start to settle.

It’s the last day before half-term. Everyone’s slightly rowdy, talking about plans for the week off. Rey and Wedge don’t have anything particular planned. They might drive out to the Highlands to do a bit of exploring, but that’s it.

“Hey, who’s the weirdo?”

Rey turns her head, momentarily curious. She’s not sure who yelled it, and doesn’t expect anything of it. But then she catches sight of who she thinks they were referring too, standing at the gate in a hideously patterned tropical shirt and sandals.

It’s Luke.

“I’m not one to agree with bloomin’ Fixer, but he’s got a point. Who wears sandles in October?”

Rey ignores her friend, Jessika Pava, and darts through the crowd. He’s not supposed to be here. He’s supposed to be in – Rey can’t actually remember, Mongolia, she thinks? Half-way across the world. And instead he’s here, standing at her school gates. “Luke!” she shouts. He smiles wide as he catches sight of her. “Luke, what are you doing here?”

“To see you,” he answers, as if it’s the simplest thing in the world. Rey throws her arms around him, enveloping him in a warm hug.

“You know him?” Jess is panting, having chased after Rey, though she’s attempting to look nonchalant about the entire thing.

Rey can’t fight the smile on her face. “Yeah,” she responds, pulling away from Luke to look at her friend. “Luke, this is Jessika Pava, my best friend—”

“Call me Jess.”

“—and Jess, this is Luke Skywalker, my—” Rey hesitates. They’ve never defined a relationship between her and Luke. And she still doesn’t know quite where he and Wedge stand with things.

“I’m an old friend of Rey’s father,” Luke says, offering a hand for Jess to shake. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Jess takes the hand, though she looks dubious about the whole thing. “Oh, cool. Look—” She turns to Rey. “I know we had plans but if you need to go, we can do it some other time. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks Jess.” Rey waves her friend off, then takes Luke’s arm. “So, Luke, does dad even know you’re in the country?”

“I thought I’d surprise him?”

Rey laughs. “Yeah. Consider us surprised.”

**xi)**

“Well it’s about bloody time,” Han says, opening the door to Wedge and Luke holding hands. “Come in, come in, let me look at you Luke.”

Rey shuffles into Han and Leia’s house, taking off her shoes and laying them neatly on the shoe rack, and hanging her coat and scarf on a hook.

“You too, Antilles.” Han releases Luke from an embrace, and then pulls Wedge into a back-slapping affectionate hug. “You keeping yourself okay? Rey, dear, thoughts on Glasgow now that you’ve had to spend more than a month in that unholy place?”

“Oi, Glasgow’s a perfectly fine city—” Wedge interjects.

“It’s lovely, Han,” Rey replies.

Han rolls his eyes. “Wedge has indoctrinated you. Such a shame. Edinburgh’s where it’s at.”

Luke scoffs. “Oh, Han. That is so not the tune you were singing when Leia first brought you here.” He takes Wedge’s arm. “Also, are we just going to lolly-gag around the hallway all day, or can we actually go in?”

“Yeah yeah.” Han waves them through to the living room. “Leia sends her apologies, she’s on a flight right this second, she’ll be back shortly.” In the last election, Leia Organa had stood for Parliament, and been elected as part of a landslide. Since then, she’s been even busier than usual. “Chewie’s joining us for dinner, too, hope that isn’t a problem.”

“It’ll be good to see him,” Luke says. “It’s been too long.”

“That it has,” Han agrees. “You spent too long cooped up on Shetland, or bloomin’ globe trotting. Good to see you here. All of you.” He looks at Wedge and Luke, who are sitting close on the sofa. “Good on you, finally getting the whole business sorted. Now I get a niece to spoil.” He pulls Rey in, ruffling at her hair.

“Hey, I’m not a little kid anymore!” she protests, but it’s half-hearted. She’s delighted by the ever growing family she’s got, that she could barely believe that she’d ever have when she was all on her own. Now she has Wedge, and Luke, and a slew of Uncles and Aunts – even a cousin, technically, in Ben Solo, who’s currently away at university doing goodness knows what.

It’s perfect. And she is so thankful for it.

**xii)**

When Rey is fifteen, she comes home to find Wedge and Luke intently listening to the radio in Wedge’s studio.

That’s a common enough occurrence. Wedge likes to listen while he works, and if Luke is around, he’s prone to joining Wedge, to sitting in the spare chair and just enjoying Wedge’s company.

But Wedge has stopped working, and is giving Luke concerned looks. “What’s going on?” Rey asks. She’s almost afraid to ask; so much bad feels like it’s happened in the world recently.

“Parliamentary debate on Iraq,” Wedge replies in a quiet voice. “It’s not going well.”

That doesn’t surprise Rey. She’s only paid a cursory amount of attention to the developments, but it isn’t pretty. “Are they close to a vote?”

“Once they finish arguing,” Wedge says. “However long that takes. It’s a done deal, I think, anyway. The Labour revolt might be sizable, but I don’t think it’ll get voted down. The cross-party support is too high. Well, unless you’ve heard otherwise from Leia—?”

He looks across to Luke. “No. Nothing. This is madness and she knows it, there are no—”

“Luke.” Wedge taps him on the knee. “Please consider whether you’re about to say something you shouldn’t be disclosing under the Official Secrets Act.”

“If everyone else is saying it, why can’t I?”

“Because everyone else is drawing conclusions based on their personal politics and the limited information they have access to. I think you might be working off more than that.” And as Luke opens his mouth, Wedge shushes him again. “And I don’t think I want confirmation of that fact, Luke. There are some things I don’t need to know.”

Rey looks between her parents, befuddled. There’s always been the implication that somewhere in Luke’s service history there’s something secretive, but she’d never guessed that it was that important.

Luke takes a deep breath. “Yeah. No, you’re right. Sorry. I just don’t like what this could mean, what sort of precedent it will set. I’m scared for those folks who have enlisted, about whether they knew what they were signing up for.”

“We made it out okay.”

“We were the lucky ones.”

“Dad, Pa—” Rey interjects, sensing that this is rapidly devolving. They both look at her, and Rey struggles to find the right words. “Sorry. I’ve got things to get on with, I’ll leave you to it.”

Luke’s scowl softens. “My fault,” he says. “Wedge, you’ve got work to do too. I’m being a distraction.”

“A much needed one,” Wedge says with a smile. “I like having you around. You are right, though, I need to get this done by the end of day.”

“I’ve got to pop out,” Rey says. “Luke, do you want to come with me?”

Luke looks at her in surprise. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

He heads off to get his coat, and before Rey follows him, Wedge shoots her an appreciative glance. She gives him a smile in response, then leaves him to get on with it, the radio still going, as a man reads out pronouncements in a solemn tone.

**xiii)**

Rey doesn’t need much; a couple of bits and bobs from the corner shop, a few things from the chemists. But she drags the trip out, to give Wedge a chance to finish his work, to give Luke a chance to burn off some of the frustration he so clearly feels.

She leads him up towards Kelvingrove Park, and they wander the winding paths for a bit before sitting down on one of the benches.

“Biscuit?” Luke says, pulling a pack out of his jacket pocket and offering it to her.

Rey takes one. “Why do you even have these in your pocket, anyway?”

“Never know when they might be needed.” Luke takes one himself, them folds the packet back up and stashes it back in his pocket.

“That something you learnt in the airforce?” Rey asks, curious.

Luke makes a long suffering sigh, and Rey wonders if she’s started a topic that she doesn’t really want to know the answers to. “It certainly had its uses there. Picked it up as a kid in Arizona though. Never knew when you might get lost out in the desert.”

“Did you ever get lost?” Rey asks. If Luke doesn’t talk much about his time in the service, he talks about his childhood even less. She knows he was raised out in America, by his father’s step-brother and wife, and didn’t learn about his sister and his English heritage until much later in life.

“Never seriously,” Luke replies. “Biggs and I got into a fair few scrapes, but we were never in any serious danger. No, that came later.”

Biggs is a name Rey recognises. It’s one that, when Wedge has Tycho and Wes and Hobbie over, they’ll say at the end of the evening, in a toast to their fallen friends.

Of course the threat of war is riling Luke up. He’s in a position where he knows exactly what’s going to be lost, and when his sister is one of the few people with the potential power to stop it: it must be an intense feeling.

“Biggs died, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. My first mission out; he’d been my best friend, my only friend, for so long. It was a shared operation between the RAF and the USAF -- Wedge was there too. That’s how we met. He got me through the aftermath, in all honesty. I don’t know what I’d have done without him. Been a lot worse off, I reckon.”

“It’s good that you had each other.”

“I’ve never been good on my own,” Luke admits. “Biggs, Leia, Han, Wedge… I’ve needed all of them. Even if for a time I walked away. That was after everything…” He breathes deep. “Wedge is right. There’s a lot I can’t tell you, even if I wanted to, and probably more that you wouldn’t want to know. But I know one thing. The cost of war is rarely one worth paying. On occasions, yes – but I can’t believe that this is one of them.”

“Pa—” Rey doesn’t know what to say. She shuffles closer to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“I never wanted for you to grow up in a world where you could be put in the same position as we were. Never. I hate that it might be coming to pass. That anyone would be put through the hell we went through.”

“You ever thought about going into politics yourself?” Rey asks.

Luke scoffs. “I’ll leave that one to my sister, I think. She knows what she’s doing. All I can do is pray – not that I have much faith that’ll change anything.”

“I think you can do more than that,” Rey says. “If you want to. But no matter what, Wedge and I – we’re here for you, okay? No matter what.”

“Thanks Rey.” Luke slings an arm around her shoulders, and they sit there in quiet contemplation for a little bit, before heading back home. When they get there, Wedge is waiting for the pair of them, with the kettle boiled and cups of tea all round. He gives Luke a long hug, standing in the kitchen, the setting sun illuminating them softly. Rey breathes deep. Who knows what’s coming, but they have each other. That’s a fine start.

**xiv)**

It’s an otherwise unremarkable morning when the letter arrives. “Rey!” Wedge is sorting through the post. “You’ve got a letter from UCL.” Rey tears down the hallway. “Go on,” Wedge says, offering it to her. “Aren’t you going to open it?”

Rey hesitates. It’s almost certainly her university offer, confirmation of whether they want her or not. She’s got four acceptances to study Architecture already, but this is the one she wants. “What if I don’t get in?”

Wedge smiles at her. “Then you find somewhere else. But I’m sure it’ll be fine, sweetheart. They said they loved you at interview. Your portfolio is first rate. They’d be fools not to offer you a place.”

“Yeah.” Rey knows all this; she just needed to hear it. She takes the letter and neatly slits it open, pulling the contents out.

Rey scans across the contents of the letter. It opens in the standard way, _Dear Miss Antilles_ , and then—

“Well?”

Rey drops the letter, it falling through shocked hands. She looks up and her face is pale and for a moment, Wedge fears the worst. Then her lips pull into a smile and she’s throwing herself at Wedge. “I got in, I got in!” she yells, as Wedge spins her around in delight.

“I’m so happy for you.” Wedge’s grin is as wide as her own, his grip fierce and tight.

“I’m so—” Rey pauses, takes a deep breath, attempts to get her thoughts in order. “I can’t believe I got in.” Her smile turns giddy again. “I got in, I got in!” Then she looks around. “I’ve got to tell Luke. And Jess. And Auntie Leia. And everyone—”

“Come on then,” Wedge says, stroking her hair. “You’ve got some calls to make.”

**xv)**

September is upon them all before they know it.

Rey packs all her stuff into Wedge’s truck. He’s driving her down to London, and wouldn’t hear of doing anything else. She says her goodbyes to Luke in Glasgow. He’s not a fan of London, and it seems silly to drag him on such a long journey. And as much as Rey loves Luke, she likes the thought that this trip is just going to be her and Wedge, him seeing her off to the start of her adult life.

“Now, if you ever run into problems, I’m only a phone call away.” Wedge surveys the stand of boxes in Rey’s new tiny room. “Are you sure you don’t want any help unpacking?”

“I’m fine, dad!” Rey says. “Go and say hello to Leia, and then get back to Luke. I’m sure he’s missing you.”

Wedge ducks his head, but his expression is affectionate. “I just want to make sure you’re okay. And remember – Leia’s in the capital half the time anyway, if you need anything you’re welcome at hers anytime. She’ll be the best person to contact if you have an emergency. All her contact details for all her offices are on the list, though you’re probably best just calling her aide straight away – Dameron’s a good lad, he’ll help you out.”

“You’ve been over this.” Rey’s tone is perhaps a little impatient, but then she looks up at Wedge, whose eyes are damp and shining. “I love you dad. Always.” She wraps her arms around his waist, and he returns the hug.

“I love you too, Rey.” He steps back, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Look at you. Your parents would be so proud – I’m so proud. You’re going to do great.” His voice cracks a little. “I’m going to miss you. It’ll be far too quiet without you.”

“Get a cat,” Rey suggests.

“… I think Luke was looking forward to the quiet.”

Wedge and Rey both laugh. It’s bright and sparkling and Rey is so grateful that Wedge found her, that he brought her into his life. But now, its time for a new adventure.

**xvi)**

Three weeks into term Rey meets Finn.

She walks into him in the library when he’s carrying a stack of books that goes above her head. He’s studying history and he’s the best person Rey’s ever met. Before long, they’re inseparable.

Finn’s a London boy, lived here his whole life; raised in care, now striking out on his own. He works tremendously hard, at his studies and his part-time job, and given that Rey regularly pulls twelve hour shifts in the architecture studio, neither of them have a lot of free time.

When they do have it, they spend most of it together.

“Wait, how many people were at your primary school?” Finn laughs in incredulity, as Rey tells him about her life before she came to London.

“Thirty. Total. That’s just how it is on Shetland. Everything’s tiny. London’s, umm, a bit of a shock in comparison?”

“I’ll bet!” They’re out in central London, and Finn gestures at the endless bustling crowds of people. “I can’t imagine it. Not having everyone around you. What on earth would drive someone to voluntarily live there?”

Rey cocks her head. “You know, I don't actually know why Dad moved there. He was on his own for a while before he found me. And it’s not like he was raised there or anything – he’s from Glasgow. Now Luke, Luke loved it, it’s the sort of place he would pick.” She pauses. Maybe that’s it. Maybe Wedge had picked a place to make a home in that he knew Luke would come home to.

“Luke’s your other dad, right?”

“Yeah,” Rey nods. “He and Dad – Wedge,” she clarifies, “They live in Glasgow at the moment, but I think they’re contemplating somewhere a little more remote now that I’ve moved out.”

“And what’s their idea of somewhere more remote? Back to Shetland?”

“I think they’re looking at the Highlands and the West Coast. There are a bunch of islands that are barely inhabited, I wouldn’t be surprised if they moved out there.”

Finn shakes his head. “No way. Who’d want to live in a place like that?”

“My parents, bless them.” Rey smiles. “They’ve had tough lives. They deserve the quiet.”

**xvii)**

Three years later, Rey stands with a flute of champagne in her hand at her end of year show.

“It looks amazing, Rey,” Finn says from her side.

Rey nods. She knows that. Her tutors have told her that for years, and she has offers of placements already, though everyone has advised her to wait until after her final show to make a decision on where she goes next. “Thanks.”

Finn wraps an arm around her shoulders. “They’ll be here soon, I’m sure.” Rey resists the urge to scan the crowd again for her family. “They’ll be delays on the tube or something.”

“Yeah.” She’s just worried that she’s not heard from them.

“Who’s coming, in the end?”

Rey leans into Finn’s shoulder, grateful for his presence, knowing that he’s just talking to make her calm. “Dad caught the train down earlier. He said he was planning on meeting Uncle Han and Auntie Leia before coming. Pa is – somewhere.” Luke’s stopped most of his random trips, but occasionally he will still vanish somewhere for a couple of weeks. This one has overrun. “Dad said he was trying to get back, last time I spoke to him.”

Rey clasps her hands close, trying to disguise how nervous she is. She wants them to be here. All of them. A moment later, one of her tutors is at her side, asking her to speak to a number of clients who are scouting for new talents. That takes her mind off things for a moment. She only hopes she’s made a good impression. After a round of handshakes and an exchange of business cards, Finn is back at her side, taking her elbow and turning her round.

Rey spies Han first. He’s tall enough to be seen above the crowd. Then besides him are Wedge, and Leia, and… Luke. Here. He looks tired and is supported by Wedge but he’s _here_ and that’s all that matters.

Wedge is the first to meet her with a father’s embrace. “Good to see you sweetheart,” he mutters in her ear. “You’ve done so well.”

“Thanks dad,” Rey says, leaning against his shoulder. Then she turns to Luke. “You made it.” She wraps her arms around his neck. She’s taller than he is now, which is an odd experience.

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Luke replies, a wide smile on his face.

Greetings are exchanged between everyone else. Leia kisses Rey’s cheek and Han ruffles her hair, before demanding she explains what all this nonsense is. Finn is introduced to Luke – he’s met Wedge previously, a couple of times, when the man’s been in London for various things and has popped by to see Rey.

The evening goes on: everyone gets progressively more tipsy until the open bar runs out of champagne. Rey is called away from her family several times to talk to various people about her work. A couple of Rey’s fellow students spot Leia and start talking in hushed whispered tones about her – Leia Organa is as much a myth as she is a bonafide political leader, these days.

As the night dies down, Rey finds herself alongside Wedge again, who’s staked out a private corner. Luke’s now looking around the other students’ work, pretending – as his partner and his daughter are architects – that he has the slightest clue what it is.

“Hello love,” Wedge says.

“Hey,” Rey replies. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Well enough. Been accosted by a couple of old clients, wanting to know if I’m scouting or something, but I dissuaded them of that notion quite quickly. Set them onto you instead. They all seemed impressed.”

“That’s a good thing,” Rey says. “I’ve still got my eyes open on a placement.”

“You’ll find one, no problems, and that’s an expert opinion, not me being your dad.” Wedge looks wistful for a moment. “I wish your parents could see you. I wish they knew how incredible you are. I wish you could have known them better, I wish I could have told you more, I can only hope Syal would be happy with how I’ve raised you—”

“Wedge,” Rey says, cutting him off. “Dad,” she adds. “You’ve been amazing. I couldn’t have hoped for anyone better. Would it have been nice to know them better? Of course it would. But I barely remember them. It is what it is. You and Luke – you’ve looked after me all these years. You’re my parents.”

Wedge looks ready to cry. Rey knows it’s always been difficult for him, knows that he’s always wished to be able to tell her more about her parents, but the truth was that he never met her father, and his sister had run away when Wedge had been only seven. He hadn’t known them. “Rey—” he says, and that’s definitely a tear rolling down his cheek. “I love you.”

Rey leans in and hugs him tightly. “Love you too, Da.”

**xviii)**

After graduation, Rey and Finn get a flat together in South West London.

They work their lives around each other. Rey’s got a prestigious internship at an architecture firm, where the hours are long but the work is exciting. Finn’s still trying to work out what he wants to do with his life, and works a series of odd jobs in the mean time.

When Rey returns to their flat, usually exhausted, Finn is usually making dinner. That day is no exception. “How was your day?” Rey asks, dropping her bag and walking to the kitchen.

“Pretty good,” Finn replies, shuffling things around a pan. It looks like some kind of stir fry. “I ran into Leia Organa’s aide today. Poe. Poe Dameron.”

“How did that happen?” Rey asks. The food looks almost ready, so she retrieves some glasses and fills them with water.

“He was running along Birdcage Walk without looking where he was going.”

“Oh, you literally ran into him?” Rey laughs.

“Saved him from walking into the traffic and getting run over, more like. Then I gave him a lift down to Westminster. He was running late.” Finn says all of this in a rather deadpan manner, which makes his resultant whine on the following sentence even more surprising. “Rey, you didn’t tell me he was hot.”

Rey blinks. She considers it for a moment – she’s met Poe Dameron a handful of times, mostly just passing by when she’s gone to see Leia – and supposes that Poe is rather attractive, in a certain way. She’d just never considered it before. “I suppose he is?” She cocks her head. “Did you get his number?”

“I didn’t even tell him my name!” Finn laments. Then he notices the food is on its way to burning, and hastily dishes it up into bowls. The pair of them sit down at their little table, and Rey digs in.

“This is good,” she says. Pausing, she smiles. “You know, I could always ask Auntie Leia for his number. I’m sure she’d give it out. I think I might have even had it at one point, but I have no idea if it’s up to date or where I put it.”

Finn shakes his head and sighs. “No, that would just be creepy. But thanks.”

After catching him moping, Rey decides to give Leia Finn’s number and ask her to pass it to Poe anyway. Let him decide what to do.

**xix)**

Rey has no complaints about London. She loves it just as much as Finn does, so they both take perverse pleasure in ribbing Poe who still can’t stand London. Nevertheless, Rey can’t deny that there’s so much beauty in the Scottish Wilds, and she wishes she could visit more.

She’s wrangled a week off – she’s in demand at her firm, though she’s about to go back to university for the rest of her qualifications – and flies up to Glasgow. There, she is met by Wedge and his little two seater plane.

“How is this thing still serviceable?” Rey asks, looking at the little thing. It’s tiny; even more so when Rey considers the size of the plane she came up in.

“The question really is whether I’m still qualified to fly it,” Wedge responds, putting on his headset and gloves.

“Are you?” Rey asks.

Wedge regards her with a long stare. “You think I’d risk it if I wasn't?” The answer to that is no. “I do update my license every time. Still qualified. Luke’s has lapsed though, if he ever tries to convince you he’s qualified: he might well be able to fly the plane, but that doesn’t mean he legally can.”

“I’ll remember that.”

From Glasgow it’s a short flight to one of the larger islands. Wedge is chatty with the people at the airbase as they wheel the plane into the hangar, while Rey grabs her bags. Then there’s a small speedboat over to the island Wedge and Luke actually call home.

Luke is waiting on the jetty for them.

He looks content. If nothing else, this life suits him, and every time Rey gets a little annoyed about how much hassle the trip out to see them is, she looks at the joy on his and Wedge’s faces and her irritation melts away.

He hugs her, then offers to take one of her bags. Wedge waves the speedboat operator off, then comes to kiss Luke’s cheek.

Rey just stands in the Scottish air and the mild drizzle and looks around at the vast sea and sweeping cliff crags. She breathes deep. The salt in the air burns the back of her throat a little, but it’s so different from London’s smog. Wedge looks at her and laughs.

“What?” she asks.

He smiles, bright and broad. “Told you you’d get it one day,” he says. “That’s the look of someone who’s missed the home country.”

**xx)**

One year after Poe wins his seat at Dundee West, Rey finds herself as Finn’s best woman at their wedding. The mood is jubilant, delightful, and full of laughter.

It’s a reunion all round, it seems. Poe’s reunited his gang, who Rey got to know on the campaign trail last year – Iolo Arana and Karé Kun and Muran. His parents are here, too, over from the States, and they’re old friends of not just Leia, but of Luke and Wedge too. The ceremony is sweet and intensely moving, and Rey is near tears all through it.

The party afterwards is nothing short of fabulous. Poe announces that he wants them all to dance the night away, and all the guests take that as a challenge. Rey has her first dance with Karé – who’d been Poe’s best woman, it had only been fitting – and then with both the grooms, and then with both her dads.

(Honestly, Wedge and Luke spend most of the evening dancing with each other, off to the side, staring into each other’s eyes and drowning in love. Rey wonders how long it’s going to be before she starts planning that wedding, now that they’ve realised that it’s possible.)

She’d joined in when someone had broken out the party anthems from the nineties with the ridiculous dances, cha-cha sliding alongside Iolo and almost losing herself in laughter. She excuses herself for a moment, claiming she needs a drink, making her way back to her table. It’s mostly abandoned, but there’s still a pitcher of water there.

“Hey.”

Rey turns around in surprise. She recognises the voice, and it’s one that she never expected to hear here of all places.

“Jess—” Because the woman in front of her, with dark hair and a cautious smile, looking… radiant is the only word for it. “What are you doing here?”

Jess was her best friend for almost four years in Glasgow, the pair of them practically inseparable. But when Rey had left for university in London, and Jess had gone to Aberdeen, they’d struggled to stay in touch. Rey hasn’t heard from Jess for years now.

“My housemate works is Poe’s chief aide. Which for whatever reason netted them an invitation to the wedding, they invited me as their plus-one. Sounded like fun.” Jess shrugs. “Never expected to see you here though.”

“Yeah, Finn’s my best friend, and Poe— I mean, my aunt is Leia Organa, he’s worked for her for years…” Rey is stumbling over her words, for no reason whatsoever.

Jess laughs. “Yeah, I heard in your speech. You basically introduced them right?”

“Something like that.” Rey still doesn’t quite know what to say. There’s a lot. She’s _missed_ Jess, more than she can say, and now suddenly being in front of her again… it’s odd. “Look, Jess—”

“Rey, whatever it is… it can wait.” Jess offers up her hand. “You want a dance? That seems like a decent enough place to start.”

It does. Rey smiles, and takes Jess’s hand. “Yeah. Sure. Sounds good.”


End file.
